f^^^ 



555 

.A ad? 



IISTDIANA AGBICULTURE. 



Agricultural Resources and Develop- 
ment OE THE State-. 



THE STRUGGLES OF PIONEER LIFE COMPARED 
WITH PRESENT CONDITIONS. 



WRITTEN BY 



JOHN B. CONNER. 



INDIANAPOLIS, 1893. 



INDIANAPOLIS: 

WM. H. BURFORD, PRINTRR AN'D BINOKh. 

1893. 




Class r5 3^ 



II^DIAJ^A AGRICULTURE. 



Agricultural Resources and Develop- 
ment OF THE State. 



THE STRUGGLES OF PIONEER LIFE COMPARED 
WITH PRESENT CONDITIONS. 



writti;n by 
JOHN B. 'CONNER. 



INDIANAPOLIS, 1893. 



INDIANAPOLIS: 

WM. B. BPRFORD, PRINTER AND BINDER. 
189S. 



INDIANA AND ITS EARLY SETTLEMENT. 



The State is in the form of an irregular parallelogram, ex- 
tending from the Ohio River on the south to Lake Michigan 
on the north, and lying hetween the States of Ohio on the east 
and Illinois on the west. From north to south the average length 
is about 250 miles and in width about 150 miles. Exclusive of 
the surface covered by lakes the State has 33,809 square miles, 
or 21,637,760 acres of land. When the Territorial Government 
of Indiana was established by the act of Congress in May, 
1800, it was an almost unbroken wilderness of heavily tim- 
bered forests and undulating, grassy plains. As early as 1702 
French explorers had found their way here, but seventy years 
later the population did not exceed 550 white people, though 
there were many tribes of Indians. In 1808 the white popula- 
tion numbered about 17,000, and the census of 1810 showed the 
number to be 24,520. The Indian title to lands, extinguished 
prior to 1812, released to white settlement only the liill regions of 
the southern part of the State. This embraced a narrow strip, 
the Indian Boundary Line, as it was named in the titles, be- 
ginning in the Whitewater Valley at the southeast boundary 
and extending in a northwesterly direction to the Wabash 
River just north of Terre Haute. All north of this line was 
held by Indian tribes, and was an unbroken hunting ground, 
abounding in bear, deer and other wild game. This cession of 
tlie hilly regions of the State occurred in 1810. Here agri- 
culture began its struggles with the great forests of white and 
burr oak, walnut, beech and other timber which abounded, cov- 
ering the hills and valleys alike. The log cabins of the pi- 
oneers were built upon the hilltops. They brought little with 
them in settlement save the Government price of the land they 
entered, in 80 and 160 acre tracts, rarely larger in size, because 
they were poor. With the wild game abounding, and a year 



or two of struggle, they were able to maintain themselves. It 
was rough farming till time elapsed for the roots of the trees 
to decay, and but little ground was planted and cultivated 
with the rude spade, rather than with the ruder plow. 

In 1816 the Territory had 63,897 population and was ad- 
mitted into the Union as a State. This gave new impetus to 
settlement, and new demands were made upon the Indian 
tribes for the rich lands of the central and northern sections 
of the State. In 1818 all these were relinquished to white set- 
tlement, excepting a small reservation on the Mississinnewa 
River for the Miami tribe, and a like one on the Eel River for 
the Potawatamies. This cession was known at the time as 
" The New Purchase," and it opened up the largest section of 
heavily timbered and rich lands that had ever been offered for 
new homes. It was before the day of land speculators, and 
the tide of people which set in hither from the older States 
were nearly all home-seekers. The public land sales of this great 
region opened in October, 1820. There were few purchases of 
more than 160 acres, most, indeed, for the first year or two, of. 
only half that amount, and happily nearly all by actual settlers. 
Such density and variety of the forest timber had never before 
been met with by the settler as that found in the central re- 
gions of this new State. The great poplar, oak and walnut 
timber was supplemented with dense jungles of undergrowth, 
for here was a moist region, with forty-two inches of annual 
rainfall. Here was ^ soil, though level and wet, which prom- 
ised great fertility and production, equal in all respects to the 
narrow, rich, river valleys of the hill region. There was no 
market for lumber, and the valuable forest timber, in the way 
of cultivation, was made into rails for the fences and destroyed 
by deadening and burning. Like the first settlements in the 
hill region, the settlers here rarely had more than surplus 
enough required to carry them through the first year. The 
future to them meant hard toil for existence, but they were of 
stout heart, and, with the abounding wild game, they soon 
established themselves in rude though fruitful homes. 

The first money made by the farmers of Indiana was in 
growing hogs. The breed was as rough and rude as the 
country, but the great oak and beech forests aflbrded the mast 
upon which they fed and, for the most part, fatted ; in these 
days maturing for market at two years old, instead of in six and 



eight months as now. The pigs and cows, with a dozen dol- 
lars annually from the sale of the surplus, when there was any 
market at all, enabled the early settler to make ends meet. It 
was a very primitive kind of farming in Indiana up to about 
1830. There was annually added a large extent of area in 
fields and cultivation, but there was little market for anything. 
The Ohio, Wabash and smaller rivers afforded ways out to such 
markets as there were by steam and flat boat. Wheat and 
corn were hauled from the interior to these water-ways and 
markets, seventy-five and a hundred miles ; and wheat, between 
1830 and 1840, sold at 30 to 50 cents per bushel, and corn, 10 
and 12 cents, delivered over long muddy roads. When the 
Wabash and Erie Canal was opened in 1841, a new era to agri- 
culture dawned. With this, augmented commercial and manu- 
facturing communities had sprung up, whose consumers made 
larger demands for the surplus agriculture. This new water- 
way, connecting with the lakes, afforded a line of transporta- 
tion from the heart of the State to the eastern markets and 
thence to Europe. This gave a great impulse to the increased 
growth of the cereals. About this time, also, the railway 
system began developing quite rapidly. With these improve- 
ments building up new communities of consumers, and open- 
ing the way to the older ones in the East, diversified agricul- 
ture began developing rapidly. The very exclusive hog farm- 
ing gave way or was supplemented by wider areas in wheat, 
corn, oats, meadow, etc. Orchards were planted, fruits and 
vegetables were generally grown, and the privations of pioneer 
life rapidly gave way to better conditions. 



THE IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDKY. 

Previous to 1830 the implements of farm husbandry were 
rude indeed. Among the first plows used in the State was the 
bull plow, so named, perhaps, because bulls and oxen were 
used nearly exclusively to do the plowing,; they were slower 
and steadier than horses, which was important in plowing 
among the forest roots. The stock or wood-work of these 
plows were usually crude and rough, made by the farmers 
themselves who used them. The handles were the butts of 



6 

"bushes, with the best of crooked roots for the turn in the 
handles, by which they were held in plowing. The beams 
were hewn with the axe from small tough oaks. The mould- 
boards were made from blocks of wood about twenty inches 
square and three inches thick. The inner and straight side of 
the mould-boards were fastened to the handle, while the outer 
surface was hewn out in an irregular troughing shape, much 
:as the present chilled plow is made. The wing of the share 
>extended high up the mould-board, and with it was bolted the 
-sheath. A loop or iron socket was forged and welded inside 
of the bar into which the wooden sheath or post rested, and in 
which the head of the large bolt, or colter, which held down the 
beam, was fitted. With such a plow, on clean ground in good 
^condition, a man with a good team could break about an acre 
.-and a half in a day of twelve to fifteen hours. The wooden 
miould-board had to be frequently cleaned off with a paddle, 
constantly carried by a cord on the handle of the plow. It re- 
quired much more labor than it does now, with the improved 
plow, to do far better work on two and a half acres per day. 
About 1840 the improved low-winged plow with cast-iron 
mould-boards came into use. This was the Peacock plow, 
taking its name from the inventor of it. It was a great im- 
/pjovement over the wooden mould-boards, did far better and 
rmo-re work in a day, had less draft, and was less laborious to 
li'jxian ,and team. This was succeeded with the steel plow and 
"Bul3sequently with the chilled plow. 

In the hill sections of the State, sixty years ago, the plowing 
was done so as to prevent washing gullies, and so the steep 
hill sides were plowed along the sides, throwing the furrow 
down hill, and dragging the plow back to run another furrow 
in the same way, thus plowing a half acre per day. Now the 
revolving plow made for hill plowing is quickly reversed to 
^ilow either right or left, and hillside plowing is as rapidly 
done as any other kind. 

The V shaped, wooden tooth harrow was the first in use for 
•cultivation. These were made usually by farmers themselves. 
"These harrows at the wide part covered four to six feet of 
ground. The frame receiving the teeth was made heavy 
enough to press the harrow into the ground and break the 
clods. The teeth were ten to twelve inches in length, made of 
some kind of hard wood and sharpened at the point. They 



were very laborious to liandle, and were of heavy draft on the 
teams, and about one-fourth was accomplished with them in a 
day that is now done far better with improved harrows. The 
harrow of these early days for cultivation of crops was sup- 
plemented with clumsy, heavy single-shovel plows and hoes. 
With such implements for cultivation four men then did about 
ihe work of one now. In these days of scratching merely with 
the plow and rude cultivation, the saving feature of agriculture 
was the new and virgin quality of the soil. ISTatural fertility 
of soil was fairly productive in spite of poor culture. With 
such cultivation now it would be quite impossible to produce 
anything of value. But with improved implements and the 
proper use of fertilizers, average production per acre is stead- 
ily increasing. 

Sixty years ago the sickle, or reaping hook, was used nearly 
exclusively in harvesting the wheat and other cereals. It would 
astonish the farmer of to-day to see the gymnastic evolutions 
of the bands of expert harvesters going into the standing grain 
fields. Heaping grain with the sickle was something one had 
to learn, to be at all expert at it and capable of cutting a half 
to three-quarters of an acre per day. Each man cut three and a 
half to four feet in width for his swath. The first movement 
was to cast the sickle into the standing grain, compelling it 
to lean somewhat towards the reaper, and then dexterously 
throwing forward the left leg, the grain was further led into 
the desired position, then by throwing around it the right leg 
and the left arm and hand, it was in position to be cut off by 
the sickle, ten or twelve inches above the ground, and dropped 
from the left hand of the reaper into piles. On the return, to 
rest his back, the reaper, carrying his sickle on his shoulder, 
properly twisted into his suspender so as to hold it there, he 
bound into sheaves the grain he had cut through the field, and 
started in again. Usually from five to ten persons composed 
these bands of reapers, one man following another, and their 
gyratory movements at cutting a half acre each per day would 
be a sight to the driver of the present stately harvester, as, 
with two horses, he rides, cuts and binds twelve acres of grain 
per day with ease. 

In early days these bands of reapers, with their sickles, com- 
posed of a dozen or two young, stalwart men, together would 
i)egin their work in the south part of the State, where the 



wheat iirst ripened, and reap the liekls northward, thus catch- 
ing on to the maturing fields as they ripened. The hest reap- 
ers were paid 37| cents per day, or a hushel of wheat, then 
reckoned an equivalent. About 1840 the grain cradle came 
into general use, except in the fallen grain, where the sickle 
was still used. The cradle was a great improvement over th« 
sickle, both as respects the labor and celerity in using it. A 
good cradler and two binders could harvest and shock about 
three acres per day. 

Previous to 1840 the grain was threshed either with the Hail, 
or was tramped out with horses. Two men could flail out and 
winnow about twelve bushels per day, and two men and a boy^ 
with horses, could tramp out and winnow about twenty bushels- 
a day. The winnowing, or separating the grain from the chaffy 
was done by the hand sieve, pouring the mixed chaff and grain 
from above, two men at the ends of a bed sheet so vibrated it 
as to make a current of air which blew the chaff to one side^. 
while the heavier grain fell in a pile at their feet. The first 
threshing machine was introduced into the southeastern part 
of the State in 1839. With four horses and eight or nine men^ 
two hundred bushels of wheat could be threshed, though it 
required cleaning afterward, as the threshing machine did not 
clean it then. It required three men two days to clean and 
sack what could be threshed in one. This was thought a won- 
derful improvement over the old way of doing this work. 
But so greatly has improved machinery followed, that now the 
same number of persons with the steam power thresher w411 
thresh, clean and sack one thousand bushels of wheat per day. 
And so might be mentioned the old method of broad-cast wheat 
and oats seeding, harrowing or brushing in of the grain among^ 
the clods, and the other clumsy implements and methods of 
grain farming in early days. The scythe fifty years ago was 
used exclusively in mowing the meadows. A good strong man 
could cut one to two acres of hay per day. The hand rake was 
then wholly in use to rake up the hay preparatory to stacking 
with the wooden fork. With the mowing machines of to-day 
a man cuts ten acres of meadow a day, and with a steel-tooth 
sulky horse rake another easily prepares it for the stack or 
mow, and a steel fork handled by a man and a horse does the 
rest. The first hay press in use was made of a long wooden 
screw about a foot in diameter, with ten to twelve feet in length 



9 

of thread to the screw. A stick of timher tweiitj^-six inches 
square with a hole through the center served as a nut, with 
threads cut to receive the wooden screw. The nut was framed 
into the top of two great posts twentj^-six by eighteen inches 
in size and twenty-one feet long, standing four and a half feet 
apart, and six feet of these posts were planted into the ground. 
A space of eleven feet in height was left to receive the hay to 
be pressed. The sides were closed stronglj- to the furrowed 
posts. To the top of the great wooden screw was fastened 
thirty feet sweeps bent downward, to which horses were hitched. 
Thus the horses traveled over a mile and a half to turn the 
screw down to a finished bale of hay, two feet square and three 
to four feet long. And so our fathers pressed and baled hay at 
the rate of two tons per day with three men and two horses. 
1^0 w, with the improved hay press, which costs less, the same 
labor and time is required to press and bale six or eight tons. 



THE SOILS OF INDIANA. 

The summit lands lying at the top of the divides, or water 
sheds, are underlaid with a heavy clay. Usually the vegetable 
accumulation forming the top soil is not deep, but with proper 
cultivation, drainage and fertilization, are very durable and pro- 
ductive in the growth of meadows and the cereals. This soil is 
greatly improved by deep plowing and tile drainage to admit 
the air, and in some localities by a lime dressing, where lime- 
stone is absent. The native soils of the beech and oak flats are 
quite light in color, and for a few years in cultivation were 
comparatively productive, but were rapidly exhausted. With 
drainage and proper fertilization these soils are again becoming 
more productive than ever, and they now grow as fine grain 
and hay crops as any others. The summit, wet, muck soils, 
with their years of decaying vegetation, once shunned as worth- 
less, have of late years been reclaimed by drainage and are 
proving themselves among the very best for nearly all purposes 
of production. 

The undulating uplands, either formerly timbered or prairie, 
are very much alike. They are both sandy loams, decayed 



10 

vegetation appearing considerably greater in the prairie soils, 
whicli have a darker color. These lands have a loamy clay 
snbsoil, which retains moisture Avell, and are much benefited 
by tile drainage, which admits the air. Much of the fertility 
of these undulating lands and soils is retained by tile drainage. 
The surface water, in times of rain, sinks through percola- 
tions to the tile, leaving the vegetable loam in the soil, 
whereas with only open surface* drains it would be washed off 
and lost. These soils are very easily plowed and cultivated, 
and witli about 60 per cent, of line sand do not bake and 
become so cloddy as the clay lands. They produce the cereals 
well, make the best of pasture lands, and blue grass especially 
flourishes on them. IS^one of our soils produce better crops 
of wheat than these, and they are very durable, the subsoils 
usually abounding with the elements of mineral fertility to 
several feet in depth. When tile drained properly these soils 
are the very best for orchards and all kinds of fruit growing. . 

The numerous valleys and bottom lands along the many 
rivers and water courses afford a large area of alluvial soils. 
These are made up largely from the rich washings of the hill 
and undulating lands, before tile drainage became so general. 
The soils rest usually on beds of gravel and sand, several feet 
beneath them. The annual overflow of these lands in the 
early spring season keeps up great fertility. Great crops of 
corn are annually grown upon these alluvial soils, yielding 
seventy to eighty bushels to the acre. After they are culti- 
vated several years in corn they produce fine wheat, oats 
and other small grain crops, but when new tliese grow too 
rank and fall badly. These valley lands are generally skirted 
with what is called second bottom lands, which are frequently 
much wider in extent, lying higher and with rich, sandy 
loams upon clay subsoils. These lands are very productive in 
the growth of wheat, oats, timothy meadow and many other 
crops. 

The prairie soils of the State lie in the northern and north- 
western sections chiefly. They are underlaid with a heavy clay 
subsoil, and no lands are improved more by tile draining. 
These soils are rich in vegetable matter, and contain a very 
considerable per cent, of fine sand. They are exceedingly pro- 
ductive, producing better corn than any others, unless it is the 
alluvial first bottom lands. After they are well subdued, wheat, 



11 

oats, timothy meadows, clover, blue grass and almost any other 
crop flourishes upon them. 

The central southern tier or two of counties bordering on 
the Ohio River have a soil peculiar to uo other section of the 
State, The soils here are chiefly made from the rocks by the- 
influence and attrition of the natural forces of frost and water, 
which in centuries have disintegrated the rocks and combined 
such vegetable matter as came in contact. In late years with 
the free use of bone dust and other fertilizers they have become 
very productive in wheat growing. They produce peaches and 
other fruits in abundance when there are none grown in other 
sections of the State. Some of the counties along the Ohio 
River have become great peach growing districts, the crop 
rarely ever failing on any account. These lands, formerly 
thought to be worn and nearly worthless, have lately become 
productive and very valuable. Many of the soils here rest upon 
sub-carboniferous limestone, while others are Devonian shale 
and limestone. 

Thus it is seen that the State abounds in soil variety. With 
proper subduing and reclamation by tile drainage, and the use 
of fertilizers, rotation of crops and intelligent tillage, it has been 
found that they all improve in productiveness. Their adapta- 
tion to a great variety of crops are noted elsewhere. The pur- 
pose here has been to note their peculiarities and character. 



NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL DRAINAGE. 

At the end of the glacial period, the land embraced within- 
the 300 by 150 miles now comprising the State of Indiana, was 
nearly a level plain, with an elevation of about one thousand 
feet above sea level. In the years subsequent the force of the 
waters from rainfall has made the rivers of the State and nu- 
merous lesser water courses, which have become wonderful 
systems of natural drainage. The Wabash River, rising in the 
neighboring State of Ohio on the east, flows across Indiana,., 
and forms its boundary on the west for over 200 miles. The 
elevation above sea level at the Ohio State line is 820 feet, and 
where it empties into the Ohio, 318 feet. Thus the water has- 
cut away over 500 feet in its course across this original level 



12 

plain. The lesser rivers and streams sIioav the influence of the 
water in about the same ratio to the distance they flov.'. With 
the exception of the small sections in the north and north- 
eastern part of the State, the trend of this flow of water is to 
the southwest. The small sections referred to are drained by 
the Maumee River into Lake Erie, and the St. Joseph River 
into Lake Michigan. As the other greater and lesser rivers 
approach the Ohio, into which they all empty, the water courses 
become numerous and larger. As a result of this flow to the 
southwest, part of the table lands and general surface of the 
State, once nearly level, have been lowered several hundred 
feet. The great body of marsh table lands in the Kankakee 
valley, not yet reclaimed, lie nearly 700 feet above the ocean, 
150 feet above the Wabash River, and nearly a hundred feet 
above Lake Michigan, a few miles distant. 

Into the larger rivers of the State, hundreds of lesser streams 
and water courses have cut their way in deep channels, in every 
section, aflbrding the best natural drainage for the artiticial 
laterals. Thus it is seen that natural forces have made a per- 
fect system of lateral drainage outlet. When the white man 
came to the State, he found this splendid condition. But he 
found among the rich tablelands, numerous lakes and marshes 
and so selected his home among the hill regions of the south. 
¥or many years what have since become the richest and most 
fertile lands of the State, were shunned and deemed Avortliless. 
Artificial drainage was not thought possible. Indeed, there Vv^as 
no knowledge of the topography of the State. That the 
marshy table lands of Central Indiana were 900 feet above sea 
level and several hundred above the rivers its streams emptied 
into a few miles distant, were not known or thought of. If it 
had been, there was neither ability, nor law,' nor system for 
drainage by which one land owner could forge a way through 
the lands of others into natural outlets. All these came step 
by step, as all other systems are buildecl. A law providing for 
systems of drainage of these rich table lands did not appear 
upon the statute book till the rich character and value of the 
lands had been discovered by individual enterprise. Then it 
was enacted and was from year to year perfected by amend- 
ments till now every part of these lands may be readily 
drained, except the Kankakee marsh regions already alluded 



13 

to. Co-operating with tlie State of Illinois to lower the chan- 
nel of the river in that State, the first steps have been taken 
by Indiana to accomplish this. 

The open drainage system is rapidly being supplemented by 
tile drainage in every section of the State where the soil is un- 
derlaid with clay. This is especially true of the table lands 
lying north of an east and west line running twent}^ miles 
south of Indianapolis, and of the level lands south of that line 
resting on clay subsoils. Wherever complete tile drainage has 
been accomplished, it has nearly doubled the productive ca- 
pacity of the lands. Under its influence wheat production has 
nearly doubled per acre. There are now about 30,000 miles 
of tile drainage in the State, and the work is still progressing 
rapidly. 

The influence of drainage on health has been as valuable as 
upon production. In 1881 the Indiana Bureau of Statistics 
made a special inquiry upon this subject and obtained some 
very interesting facts. In the early history of the State, these 
table land marshes were malaria pests. A household found it 
as needful to provide itself with quinine as with other staple 
necessities. " Chills and fever,"' as the result of miasmatic in- 
fluence was termed, was very prevalent in all these regions. 
For the inquiry to which allusion is made, the Bureau obtained 
from the books of old practicing physicians, in some of these 
sections, statements showing the comparative prevalence of 
miasmatic disease during a series of years before tile drainage, 
and during a like series of j'ears after the system had been 
perfected. It was found that the drainage system had de- 
creased disease from this cause fuU}^ 60 per cent., and improved 
healthful conditions by so much. Both medical testimony and 
hygienic steps have very greatly improved health in every 
section, and it is now a rare thing to hear the old allusion to 
" chills and fever " in any part of the State. "When the pres- 
ent system of drainage, now going forward so rapidly under 
the way wisely opened by the statute, is completed, there is no 
State in these great central valleys that can be more healthful, 
more productive, or more desirable for residence. 



14 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEMS ON 
AGRICULTURE. 

If any one can answer what our State agriculture would do 
to-day without railroads, he can get some adequate idea of the 
influence of the railway systems on agricultural production. 
Previous to the building of railroads in Indiana, the surplus 
wheat, corn and oats were hauled in wagons from nearly all 
sections to Madison, Lawrenceburg, Cincinnati and Louisville, 
on the Ohio river. A little later a good deal of the surplus 
convenient to the smaller rivers was sent out by flat boats to 
New Orleans and other river markets. The Wabash, White 
river, Muscatatuk and other water courses had great reser- 
voirs of water at their sources in early days, and were well 
supplied most of the year for flat boating. But these facilities 
to market, so far as convenience was concerned, were limited 
to the farms within a short distance of the rivers. As the 
flelds were extended the surplus corn in the central sections 
was much increased, and hog farming grew rapidly, for the 
hogs could be driven on foot a great distance to market. 
Cincinnati became the great hog market for nearly all of the 
State. But wheat, oats and other grciin growing was increas- 
ing also. There were a few water mills, but they only sup- 
plied the home demand, and were what were called custom 
mills, for grinding the wheat and corn of the farmers residing 
in a radius of fifty miles. The first flour mill of any conse- 
quence was erected at Lawrenceburg in 1839, at the outlet of 
the Whitewater canal, which aftbrded a good water power. 
To this mill wheat was hauled in wagons one hundred and 
twenty-five miles, as it ofiered something of a market, the 
surplus flour being shipped to New Orleans by boats. The 
wagon roads of those days would scarcely be considered 
passable now. These trips to market required from seven to 
ten days and five hundred to seven hundred pounds were con- 
sidered heavy loads for two horses or a yoke of oxen. 

The year 1850 was called the epoch of railroads. The first 
lines in the State were projected and partly built fifteen years 
earlier. The building of these roads had a wonderfully stimu- 
lating effect on agriculture. Previous to this there was little 
or no rotation of crops. Year after year the same fields were 
grown in wheat or corn. Now occurred a wider demand and 



15 

greater variet}^, and crop rotation began. The farm needed 
tlie railway and the railway required the products of the farm 
to be profitable. Here was a rich level country of over two 
hundred miles, lying between the hill sections of the Ohio 
river and the great lakes on the north. These physical rea- 
sons marked the State as the way of all the great trans- 
continental lines. It was also in the midst of the belt for the 
production of the staple breadstuffs of the world. And so 
over the central and northern sections were built what have 
become the great railway systems which traverse the conti- 
nent. These were first constructed as separate lines, and it 
required many changes and reshipments, and weeks of time 
to reach the seaboard with the products by rail even, at first. 
Agriculture received its next large benefits from railroads 
when the consolidations of these numerous lines were effected. 
That step reduced freight one-half, and the time required to 
get to market more than one-half. Whereas it cost the price 
of a bushel of wheat to take three to market, now it costs less 
to freight a barrel of flour from Indiana to N^ew York than 
is required to haul it across that city. The mumerous railway 
lines traversing the State touch all but three of the ninety-two 
counties, and the system embraces about 6,000 miles within its 
borders. ISTothing that has occurred in the history of Indiana 
has given a greater impetus to agriculture than railway 
building. They opened the way for the mills and factories 
of every kind, and established new markets for the farm 
surplus near home. And so one great industrj^ gave impetus 
to another, till we now have a community almost symmetrical 
in all the essentials necessary to the prosperity of all. 



DEVELOPMENT IN LIVE STOCK. 

The growth and development of this interest has been very 
marked. Fifty years ago few cattle were kept upon the farms 
save for milk and butter, and these were of very indifi:erent 
breeding. The beef cattle of those days weighed from 700 to 
900 pounds, and were reckoned extra when, at four or five 
years old, weighing 1,000 pounds. At that date the price was 
considered fair if they sold at one to one and a half cents per 
pound. Growing hogs was pursued more generally and were 



16 

more profitable. The breeds were indifFerent also. The}' re- 
quired two years or more to mature, and then rarely weighed 
more than 175 to 200 pounds. In 1840 the packers' standard 
of weight at Lawrenceburg and Cincinnati was 200 pounds, 
and from 1840 to the end of 1843 the average price did not reach 
quite two cents per pound gross. Milk cows sold for $8, and 
were thought good if they produced three pounds of butter a 
week, which then sold at six cents per pound. Horses were 
also of very indifFerent breeding, and were held merely as a 
necessary animal in farm economy, and those who were able 
to have them in preference to oxen for this purpose were reck- 
oned somewhat aristocratic. Horses sold for $30 to $40 each. 
A few sheep were also kept of the mongrel breeds, for wool 
was a necessity for clothing. The wool was carded by hand, 
made into yarn on the hand spinning-wheel, and woven into 
jeans and linsey on the hand looms found on almost every 
well-ordered farm. This was one of the early necessary in- 
dustries, for there was little machinery in the country then to 
produce the clothing of the people. These things are men- 
tioned to show what advances have been made in fifty or sixty 
years. When railroads began to be built there appeared a 
spirit for better things in live stock, and better blood was in- 
troduced rapidly in all lines, though many years previous bet- 
ter cattle, here and there, had been brought into the State 
from Kentucky and Ohio by new settlers. 

Shorthorn cattle of the pure breeds were the first intro- 
duced into the State, and to this great breed is due the rapid 
advance to the front rank, which distinction Indiana now en- 
joys. The first introduction of these cattle in the State was 
in 1825 by Mr. Edward Talbott, near Madison, Jefierson County. 
This was followed by Mr. John Owens in 1828, in Monroe 
County. The first public exhibit of this breed of cattle was 
made at the Marion County Fair, held in the old Governor's 
Circle, now the center of Indianapolis, in 1835. In the fol- 
lowing ten years these pure bred cattle were brought into 
several other counties of the State. The first volume of 
the Herd Book, published in 1846, did not contain a single 
pedigree of Indiana cattle, so little attention was then paid to 
the importance of records of pure breeding. The next volume, 
published in 1855, had the pedigrees of thirty -five Indiana 
breeders of these cattle, representing nineteen counties and 



17 

something over 137 cattle. From this date Shorthorn cattle 
were sought for in every section of the State, and the importa- 
tions from England have been numerous. This great breed 
soon raised the average weight of cattle throughout the State 
of from 700 to 900 pounds up to 1,400 and 1,600. Not only so, 
but it was soon found that grade Shorthorn cattle could be 
matured at about half the age required by common breeds. 
There are now about 1,000 breeders of pure Shorthorn blood 
in the State, with herds numbering over 13,000 animals. 

The introduction of other pure breeds are of comparative 
recent date. Of the other beef breeds may be mentioned the 
fine herds of Herefords, Polled Angus, Red Polls and Gallo- 
ways. Of the improved dairy breeds may be mentioned the 
Jerseys, Holstein-Friesians and Devons. The Jerseys and 
Holstein-Friesian breeds predominate, and there are fine herds 
in every part of the State. 

In trotting, coach and draft horses, the State stands among 
the first. Especially is this true of trotting and pacing horses. 
The standard bred horses of Indiana have a wide reputation, 
and the blood and breeding are carefully maintained by the 
associations having these matters in their charge. 

Sheep husbandry is most intelligently pursued in every part 
of the State. The Shropshire, Merinos and South Downs pre- 
dominating, though there are many flocks of other pure breeds. 

Swine herds are numerous, and this line of live stock breed- 
ing has been brought more nearly to perfection than kny other. 
The last of the common breeds of swine were abandoned years 
ago. Poland Chinas, Berkshires, and Chester Whites are the 
leading breeds, and in about the order named. 

Something of the extent and profitableness of the live stock 
industry is gained from the following table, giving about the 
average annual number and value of the commercial live stock, 
and not the studs, herds and flocks of breeding animals. 

Commercial Live Stock. Number. Value. 

Horses 725,256 $53,388,702 

Mules 56,841 7,733,399 

Cattle 1,742,278 36,201,886 

Sheep 1,161,702 4,298,762 

Hogs 2,586,308 12,787,061 

Total 6,272,385 $114,409,810 

(2) 



18 

The growth iii vahie of the live stock industry of the State 
is seen by comparison with the total values in 1850, which 
were then ^22,478,555. The rapid increase of this industry is 
due to several causes, chief of which may be mentioned the 
central location of the State, its great railway systems, which 
makes its products so near to the leading markets, and because 
it is a great corn producing State, and the natural home of 
the blue grass, making the best. grazing pastures in the world. 



GRAIN PRODUCTION. 

Fifty years ago, without improved farm implements, tile 
drainage, improved seed and such intelligent cultivation as now, 
the average yield of wheat per acre was eight to nine bushels, 
and corn eighteen to twenty bushels. The census reports of 
1880 showed that, comparing area in wheat, Indiana stood 
first, and that has been maintained since generally. 

There was a marked increase of grain production when agri- 
culture began to organize, in 1840. The county agricultural 
societies brought the farmers together annually with their 
products to compare notes, and learn how to improve their 
methods of soil culture. In 1851, thirty-three counties had 
organized these societies and held their annual fairs. From 
this date there was a marked increase in production per area. 
In 1850 the State had only 5,046,143 acres of improved land, 
and of the two staples grew 6,214,458 bushels of wheat and 
52,964,363 bushels of corn. The average size of the farms in 
1850 was 136 acres, and are now a little less than 100. At that 
date there were but two or three varieties of wheat grown, and 
chiefly the Mediterranean. The World's Columbian wheat 
exhibit of this State has forty varieties, and most of the 
leading varieties, averaging sixteen to twenty bushels 
per acre. No fair idea of wheat growing is obtained 
by the averages of the State, and it is well to explain 
and understand this. There are two methods of cultivation, 
wide apart in average yields. Tlie one is composed of a class 
of farms upon which there is no intelligent method pursued. 
Tile drainage is neglected, the seed bed is not properly pre- 
pared, fertilizers are not used, little or no attention is paid to 



19 

the character of the seed put into the ground, and much of it is 
sown broadcast. This class of farms is found all over the 
State, and make up a large part of the area grown to wheat. 
They average from ten to fourteen bushels per acre, and the 
cost of production is 60 to 80 cents a bushel. The other class 
comprises the bright and intelligent farmers, who report the 
cost of production at from 30 to 50 cents a bushel. Their farms 
are thoroughly tile drained, the seed beds are made perfectly 
friable, they will have none but the best selected seed, use the 
best drills, witli fertilizer attachments, and they average from 
twenty to thirty bushels per acre. These are yet in the minority 
as wheat producers, but they are yearly increasing and raising 
the annual average, taking series of years as a basis. The same 
is true of the production of the other staples. The indifferent 
farming keeps down the average. The following gives a fair 
idea of the production and value of the staple grain crops of 
the State : 

Kind. Bushels. Value. 

Corn 124,500,000 $47,400,000 

Wheat 52,800,000 45,414,000 

Oats 21,034,000 6,730,000 

Total $09,544,000 

In 1840 farm labor averaged, per month, $8,00 ; in 1850 it 
was $10.50; in 1860, $12.50, and now, $18.00 to $20.00, with 
board. The relative productivity of farm labor was as follows : 
In 1840 it took one farm hand twenty-four days to plow, seed 
and harvest ten acres of wheat, and forty-four days to plow, 
plant, cultivate and harvest ten acres of corn. Now, with im- 
proved machinery and methods, it requires only about three 
clays to obtain the same results that it required ten days then 
to perform. The figures show the great advances that have 
been made on the farm in fifty years. 

Fifty million bushels of wheat and 125,000,000 bushels of 
corn and 21,000,000 bushels of oats annually, worth nearly 
$100,000,000 seems large for a State the size of Indiana, for its 
three staple grain crops, but with the present improvement 
going on, by the time there is a demand for it, the State can 
produce double the quantity and not trench upon the area of 
the minor crops, pasture and meadow lands. The minor 



20 

grain and seed crops, such as rye, barley, flaxseed, clover, tim- 
othy, millet, etc., also yield largely, and the soil is well adapted 
to their production. But the three great staples best illustrate 
both the progress of agriculture, in the lines of grain produc- 
tion, and the capability of our soils for this purpose. 



mFLUENCE OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY ON 
AGRICULTURE. 

The act of Congress of 1862, laying the new foundation for 
agriculture, was the most important step in behalf of this 
great iodustry, taken in all its history. Indiana availed her- 
self of the endowment, but like the Congressional enactment, 
it was feeling the way in the dark, and the struggle to a knowl- 
edge of the wonderful advantages now afforded by this agri- 
cultural college has been a great one, though not exceptional 
to this State alone. In the dark days of the struggle for 
national existence and integrity. Congress builded better than 
it knew. . The same may be said in behalf of other States 
which accepted the endowment and organized these agricul- 
tural and industrial colleges. Projected into new fields of 
learning' they found the State, and all the States, without 
trained instructors to this bent, and the people almost wholly 
incredulous respecting the utility of such schools. There 
were chemists and others qualified in theory and practice to 
meet the public demands, so far as the public had discovered 
the need of them. But applied science in agriculture was 
Greek to the general farmer. Johnson and others had long 
before written well, but few had learned to apply this science 
to soil culture. And it was under these disadvantages that 
Purdue University began its work. All educational institu- 
tions had led the student away from manual industry. Liter- 
ature and professions had long been the outcome of the colleges, 
and it is therefore not to be wondered at that the general news- 
paper added to the public confusion by its jeers at " educating 
for the farm." The agricultural press, which supported the 
new movement, was then in its minority in all the great agri- 
cultural States, and had small voice or influence. It is a 
remarkable fact, that the press devoted to agriculture began 



21 

its growth and intlnence about the same time, and its circula- 
tion among the agricultural classes has grown more since 1862 
that it had in all time before. This growth and desire for 
agricultural information was the sure promise of the final 
success of the agricultural and industrial colleges. 

Purdue University now has its graduates in every part of the 
State, and in many newer States, developing the same work. 
In our own State they can be named in every section as the 
brightest and most successful farmers. The public have come 
to understand that applied science in farming is one of the 
most important steps of the century, that national prosperity 
which has been so prevalent in the last decade or two is due 
largely to this movement. 

The public support of this college of applied science for sev- 
eral years was meager. Legislatures were made up of the same 
unappreciative class. But it has come to be understood that 
the prosperity of all depended upon intelligent industry. The 
things that have actually occurred under the direct infiuence of 
Purdue University have year by year wrought this change. 
The experiments in growing wheat at the University farm have 
attracted the attention of nearly all the other States. These 
experiments have shown how the yield may be doubled on the 
same lands, and how this staple may be produced at a cost of 
thirty cents per bushel. Like experiments with other seeds 
and productions have also wrought new things for agriculture. 
Methods of cultivation have also been of equal advantage to 
this industry. Periodically the bulletins showing this work 
and its results are sent into all parts of the State. As auxil- 
iary to the work of the University, Farmers' Institutes were, 
a few years ago, organized under charge of one of its faculty. 
The value of these have been most marked in breaking down 
a lingering prejudice to agricultural education. The gospel of 
agriculture under these organizations has been carried to the 
doors of the people in every county of the State. This has 
awakened new interest in both agriculture and in the institu- 
tion which is doing so much to promote it. 

Purdue University has a school of agriculture which has 
been established in response to a popular demand that there 
shall be a school of high grade in which joung men coming 
from the farm, and who expect to return to the farm, shall be 
given a liberal education, and also practical instruction and 



22 

experience in the higher forms of applied agriculture. This 
school is not a school of high agricultural research. Such work 
must be done in an advanced school of science. Purdue has 
such a school, and from it has come some of the best workers 
in agricultural research in the country. 

This school lays a foundation for scientific research broadly 
and generously. The backbone of this course is composed of 
chemistry, botany, zoology and geology. It attracts a class of 
men who would never think of taking a course in agriculture, 
and whose purpose is not to return to the farm. Although this 
school, in its first years, is a school of general science, its pur- 
pose is to lay a foundation upon which men can be trained into 
the practical, productive industries iu which science plays an 
important part, and very strong effort is made to influence men 
who are in this course to turn their attention to the higher 
departments of agricultural research. 

The strongest men we have had in our school of science have 
been turned toward agricultural research as a profession, and 
these are the men who have most distinguished themselves and 
reflected the most credit upon the University. Although they 
are now among the most devoted followers of agricultural sci- 
ence, it is safe to say that, with one exception, none of them 
would have entered a school of agriculture nor a school of 
agricultural science, so called. Why? Because people still 
believe that science has to do with every department of work 
except the farmer's work. They have not yet comprehended 
the great fact that the widest field for the scientist of to-day is 
the field of agriculture and its allied subjects. These young 
men did not comprehend it. They discovered it after they 
entered the Purdue School of Science. 

"We til us have a school of practical agriculture which sends 
its graduates back to the farm. We also have a school of 
science, which sends many of its graduates out into the greater 
and broader domain of agricultural research. No well in- 
formed person will dare say that this work is not a noble one, 
and that it is not productive of the highest economic results to 
the practical agriculturists of the country. 

To determine quality of soils and adaptation to production, 
branch experiment stations have been established in all quar- 
ters of the State under proper management and direction. 



23 

These branch stations, together with the main one of the Uni- 
versity farm, are doing a two-fold work, that of awakening 
new interest in better methods, and determining the value of 
new seeds, fruits, etc., and their adaptation to sections. The 
silent forces and influences going out from this institution and 
permeating all the industrial classes, touches the mainsprings 
of productive industry, upon which rests the general pros- 
perity. 



GENERAL FEATURES OF INDIANA AGRICULTURE. 

Let any one interested in the general subject of agriculture 
consider the location of the State and its contiguity to the 
great cities of the West, which teem with their millions of 
consumers, aflbrding better and better markets for our surplus. 
The census returns of 1890 show a rapid increase of manu- 
facturing industry and of population of all these cities, and 
the consequent larger and larger demands upon the farm, its 
dairies and horticulture. Ten years ago there were but half a 
dozen organized associations ; now they are found in every 
part of the State, and hundreds of thousands of dollars have 
been invested in them. The productions of vegetable garden 
and small fruit farming have quadrupled in the same time. 
The soil and climate of the State are well adapted to all the 
fruits of the temperate zone. The Ohio River counties have 
thousands of acres devoted to successful peach culture, while 
the northern sections produce as fine apples as are found any- 
where. The smaller fruits flourish in all sections. A State 
adapted to such variety of prodoction, situated in the midst of 
great and growing industries, has not entered too soon upon 
the more intelligent methods of soil culture. So surrounded, 
and so apprehending our advantages and coming demands 
upon us, a more intensive system of agriculture is rapidly 
taking the place of the extensive and Avide area of cultivation. 
It has already been shown how the applied science of agricul- 
ture has more than doubled the production of the staple crops. 
Under the management, in many sections, one acre is produc- 
ing what two formerly barely did. The lands are yet compar- 
atively cheap to those who know how to manage them. 



24 

Thousands of acres wait cultivation still. The annual agricul- 
tural production is over $200,000,000 in value, with about 33 
per cent, of our arable lands yet producing nothing. Here is 
wide opportunity to the industrious and skilled, in whatever 
branch of agriculture he may - lesire to engage. Great railway 
systems, assured and convenient markets, constantly enchanc- 
ing values of land, rapidly ii'creasing demands for all that is 
produced. These are the eoi ditions prevailing in a State now 
in the center of population, and in the very heart of the richest 
agricultural resources of the United States. 



mi 

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